The Dawn Daydreamer
by Jumping Beans Of Doom
Summary: It wasn't like she hadn't seen this coming. When she thought about it, she could even see how it was bound to happen. After all, many animals only took one mate throughout their lifetimes. Naru was hers.
1. Chapter 1

'Mai!'

She ran out fast, slamming the door behind her. She fled down the hallway before she collapsed onto the stairs. Seeing as how Bou-san hadn't ran after her, she supposed that Naru had stopped him.

Naru.

What kind of person rejects a girl, leaves for five years straight without any form of communication and then just comes back, utterly shocking said girl? Oh wait. That was exactly what Naru had done.

Her heart was still pounding a mile a minute from the shock. Although, to be fair, it may not entirely be up to shock. That arrogant man had grown even more gorgeous, something she would have sworn could not be possible. He had grown, but then again she had too.

Funny, she'd had always thought that Naru would always be the same, with the same trademark 'smarter-than-thou' smirk and perfect posture. As she thought about him, another shudder wracked her small frame.

She had really thought she was over him.

But here she was, desperately struggling to catch her breath after the mere sight of him. As the months pasted from his departure, that horrible sharp pain that she had always associated with his memory faded. The puddle of her affection had turned stagnant, no longer disturbed with the sporadic ripples that used to characterize it.

She had even went out on a date or two, something that Bou-san and Yasuhara had been quick to tease her on. Still, she had really thought she was over him.

Until she saw him.

Upon sight of him, she stepped on the surface of that calm puddle and found that it's stagnant waters hid a massive lake. One that pulled her under and choked her from the inside out as she desperately kicked and struggled for freedom.

Instead of the sharp cuts his presence used to give her, waves of pure emotion had washed over her. Even now, as one of the waves receded, another would rise, drowning her all over again.

How could this happen? She hadn't seen him in five years, so how could her feelings had gotten stronger? She was supposed to be past this puppy love phase already!

But therein laid the problem. These feelings weren't puppy love anymore. She had been avoiding it, dismissing it, but now the truth had reared its ugly head and roared its message for her to hear.

Her feelings had increased with her spiritual power.

In those five years he was gone, Bou-san had been training her in mantras and Ayako in charms. Heck, even Yasuhara had scoured his college library for some spiritual tomes to help her. All of them had been surprised by how fast her powers had grown. In fact, the reason Bou-san had taken her back to the SPR base was to pick up a book on astral projection she had forgotten when she had left on her desk yesterday.

Then they saw him. Judging by the boxes beside him on the floor and how his jacket was still on, it seemed that he had just come.

There was a moment of shock, where both sides took in what was before them. She had given a small gasp, one that Bou-san had most likely attributed to surprise. That wasn't entirely the case.

Upon sight of him, a wave had washed over her, starting from her stomach, which was where she had always felt her spiritual power coming from. She was overwhelmed by a sense of happiness, and wanting, no, _needing_ to touch him, to comfort him, to brush away the strands of hair that had fallen in front of his face and to never let him go.

It had taken everything she had to break away and run.

It's not like she hadn't seen this coming. She had guessed this a little after the dates she had gone on during his absence. The men were always gentlemen, and normally she would have been a blushing, flustered mess in front of them.

Yet nothing of the sort had happened. On the contrary, she felt nothing about them. She accepted their compliments, but simply couldn't summon up any interest in them.

One had even tried to kiss her. She really did try to let him. The key word is try. Immediately after he had touched her, a feeling of disgust wriggled through her skin and she was forced to make excuses and leave early.

When she thought about it, she could see how it was bound to happen. After all, many animals only took one mate during their lifetimes.

When Naru had first announced that she had an 'Animal Instinct', she thought he was simply trying to insult her. He could have very well intended to, but his assessment had rung quite true.

She had always had an impulsive nature, but what was impulse if not simply instinct at its core? Her unwavering loyalty to her friends could even be explained by the natural instinct of an animal to protect what it cared about.

Her spiritual intuition affected many, if not all of her actions. If she thought long enough about it, then she could even credit her resilience in life to an animal's determination to survive at all costs.

And she had survived when her parents died. Many had been surprised by how hard a little girl worked to find a place to live and to keep herself well fed and in school. She had accomplished much, and all of it she had always credited to her own stubbornness. But all along it was simply her spiritual instinct guiding her actions at every turn.

She shifted her seat on the stairs so that she was more comfortable. Bou-san still hadn't come for her; that old monk was probably off talking to Lin and Naru about the recent cases and waiting for her to finish her little tantrum.

Naru. She had always been a bit confused on how fast her feelings for him had developed. Most people took years to fall in love, but it took her less than a week to trip head over heels for that arrogant narcissist.

That was probably another instance of her spiritual instinct guiding her. After all, the only other thing more important to an animal than survival was the passing of its genes to the next generation.

She blushed crimson at this. Then she quickly slapped her checks to snap herself out of it. It wasn't her fault that her spiritual power went solo and decided that Naru would be the only man she would ever love.

Now that was a depressing thought. She had taken a bit of biology in school, and she still remembered the screeching voice of her horrible teacher Mr. Yatsume.

'Female animals choose the strongest male for reproduction, so that the survival of their offspring is assured.' he had said with a slap of his old, scratched up ruler on the table. ' This is going to be on the test, so wake up!'

Well, the former words were more helpful than the latter. And in terms of spiritual power, Naru was stronger than any man she had ever met. Heck, he was probably one of the most spiritually powerful men in the world!

And probably the only one in her age group.

But he had barely paid attention to her when they'd met. She supposed that that's when her spiritual instinct had sent the red flare up. A signal that screamed 'Notice me! Notice me!'.

And her spiritual powers had developed so quickly after she met Naru. It was like they evolved, no, _adapted_ so that she could provide a use to him and get his attention.

The compulsions she had felt when she'd met him again now were eerily similar to the ones she had felt when she decided to walk towards the SPR base during the first case. But this was dozens of cases later, and the compulsion to be near him was stronger than ever.

She was struck by a sudden thought to just run. If she left, if she cut off all ties to SPR, then maybe she could try to live something resembling a normal life. No dangerous cases, no freaky ghosts, and no unrequited feelings for an arrogant narcissist.

That idea was squashed thoroughly before she even finished it. Even the thought of leaving now brought on a deep wave of pain. It cut at the space behind her eyes and her stomach and it floored her. She pushed her palms in her eyes to keep from letting out tears.

She had been bound from the very first moment her spiritual power grazed his when she had seen him just now. It had found him again, and now that it was stronger than ever, it would not be leaving him alone.

Even now, she had to fight against the urge to run, to let her feet carry her to Naru and to breathe in the smell of Earl Grey and old, worn papers.

But he would never let her do that.

Her spiritual instinct had the base feelings down, but even it couldn't change the fact that Naru had rejected her. Worse than that, he had ripped out her heart, left it on the floor bleeding and he still had the nerve to claim that she loved Gene.

But she couldn't love anybody else now. Her spiritual power had chosen Naru, who happened to be the one person in the world she could never be with. Really, he was the 'Great and Magnificent Oliver Davis', a gorgeous, world famous paranormal researcher.

She was, well, she was just a woman in a city in Japan. She wasn't that talented. Sure, she could astral project, but there were lots of others in the world who could do that. She couldn't really think of anybody who could pick up 50 kg weight with their mind and throw it across the room. Well, other than Naru. She wasn't even exceptionally beautiful.

Because wasn't that how all the stories went? You had to be some gorgeous knock-out to even try to gain the attention of someone as powerful and connected as 'Oliver Davis'.

Now she was lost, stuck between a rock and hard place. She couldn't tell him. She could never tell anyone about this. It was just too much to deal with, and she and Naru did have one thing in common.

They both hated having another person's pity.

She couldn't stand pitying looks when her parents died, and she wouldn't stand for them now. Telling the others in SPR was out of the question too. She didn't want them to get worried, and Bou-san was likely to attack Naru for her honor in this. She just couldn't stand to see her friends upset, especially over her.

This was her burden to bear.

It's not like she wasn't used to acting like she was happy when all she really wanted was to cry alone in a corner. She had taken her parents death hard, but she had needed to grow up fast. Besides, if you laugh the world laughs with you.

But if you cry, you cry alone.

She took a shuddering breath inwards, and slowly stood up. Her legs had gone numb, so she had probably been there for a while. Bou-san was probably starting to get worried.

She tried to smooth out the wrinkles in her sun-dress, but failed miserably. She gave a soft smile as she remembered how Ayako had taken her shopping after Mai had worn an old pair of overalls. Ayako had cried that the thing was so ugly, it was sacrilegious to wear it and that it was her religious duty as a miko to get her some good clothes. Bou-san had quickly seconded that and her 'visiting Ayako' day had quickly turned into a 'lets drag Mai out to the mall and nearly choke her with clothes' day.

She really loved them. At that thought she gave a soft 'ahh' as she realized something.

That was the reason she was always the one to get hurt on cases. She always managed to get a sprained ankle or a cut at least once during a case, and it had gotten to the point where the others were thinking of just locking her up in the base during cases.

Normally an animal instinct would divert her away from situations where she could get hurt. But she was taking their hurt from them. Her spiritual instinct was attracting the ghosts so that those she loved would be spared.

So, her spiritual instinct wasn't all that bad. She had been slowly making her way back to the SPR door during this thought process, and by the end she was right outside of it.

She closed her eyes and searched the place with her spiritual powers. It was a trick that Bou-san had taught her so that she could scope out potentially haunted spots before dashing into danger. He knew how to do it as well, but he had said that because of her astral projection talents, she was much more proficient at it than he was.

She felt Bou-san's spiritual power on the couch, and Lin's in the side room. And she definitely felt Naru's. His spiritual power was like a supernova compared to the others, and she knew by instinct that she would be able sense his power from blocks away. Scratch that, she thought as another wave of feeling passed over her, she could probably feel him if he was on the other side of the world.

She gave herself another pat down and fixed the ends of her dress. She ran her fingers through her hair to get rid of the dent in the back the wall had made when she leaned against it.

She had grown in these five years. Nothing drastic, but she wasn't as scrawny anymore. To her immense dislike, she hadn't grown any taller, but she had gained more of a handle on herself. No longer did she trip over her own feet, but her rate of tripping over objects had, sadly, remained the same. To Ayako's dislike, she had cut her hair short again, almost as short as it had been when she first met Naru.

Speaking of Naru, she could hear his voice coming through the door. It was smoother, and more assured. She gave an inward groan. With no one to tell him off when he got too arrogant, he had probably grown more narcissistic. Well, she was here to remedy that. No spiritual instinct was going to get between her and knocking Naru down a notch in his arrogance meter. Although, he had probably broken the darn thing already.

She put her head closer to make out what he was saying, but even with her hyper-aware sense of him she could only make out a few words of the conversation between him and Bou-san.

'Meet..think...Investigator...Mai'

She gave a share raise of her head at that. He was going to make her an actual investigator? At first, she felt a deep satisfaction. He finally realized her superior abilities. Hah! Then as she realized what this held for her, she started to panic.

As an investigator, she would only see him on cases, unlike the daily contact that resulted out of being his assistant. She didn't think she would be able to bear that. She had to get him to include her assistant status with the investigator title.

She could already imagine the taunts and teasing she would have to put up with if she asked him. She would just have to make him think it was his idea. At this, she gave a wince.

Pulling one over on Naru? Now that was gonna be hard.

She would just have to pray that he enjoyed her tea enough that he would accept her as an assistant without thinking too hard about why she had accepted his offer so fast.

She readied herself as she prepared to return to the room. Yet when her hand was primed directly over the knob, she froze.

Was this what was going to happen to her? Was she going to be forced to live a half-life where the man she loved felt nothing for her, and where her heart would be in constant pain from his not-so-thinly-veiled barbs at her? Did she even have a choice in the matter?

She sucked in her hesitations and turned the knob. She plastered on a fake smile as she entered, and fought with her entire being to restrain herself from leaping the short distance between them and wrapping her arms around Naru.

She had fallen into a puddle that was lake and she was slowly going to drown.

But what choice did she have?

**A/N: Hello All! This is my first attempt at anything resembling a fanfiction, and I hope you all enjoyed it. My highest hope for this fic is that it somehow inspires any of the wonderful writers in this fandom. **

**I also don't own Ghost Hunt!**

**I understand that there are some questions, and I will try to address some now. I tried to play around with the concept of 'Animal Instinct' because I got tired of people merely focusing on Mai's astral projection talents.  
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**I also made them older because, quite frankly, I don't think that a true relationship would have developed between the two while they were still young. Making Mai around the age of 22-ish, allows me to try to form a more mature, believable relationship between the two without making Naru completely out of character. I don't believe that Naru would kiss/comfort/confess to Mai out of the blue, so this is going to be an experiment for me in how their relationship could be set up realistically with more of a focus in companionship.  
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**I also understand how some of you might be wondering why I didn't mention Gene in this chapter, but that is a whole 'nother can of worms that I will explore in other chapters.  
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**This chapter is actually meant to be the first of others, and I have many other ideas. Such as a cross-over with Detective Conan, a look into Naru's feelings set during the holidays, a trip to Hawaii, more chapters focusing on Mai's developing power and her growing spiritual instinct, as well an exploration of Mai's background.**

**Because really, I can't believe that Mai just suddenly developed her powers, even her Animal Instinct ones, out of the blue. I'll try to deal more with the issue of her parents during that. The one that deals with Naru's feelings will also include some information about Mai's living arrangements, because I always wondered how she would be able to support herself after she turned eighteen and was no longer eligible for scholarships. The cross-over with Detective Conan will be fun, I just think that these two fandoms are just primed for a connection! Cause really, midget logical detective vs Arrogant paranormal researcher? Total awesome! All of these will have a plot-like connection, but they will not be situated directly after the events of the previous chapter. Now that you all know what my thoughts are, tell me which one you guys want to read first!**

**Thank you all for reading this (very long) Author's Note! Also, I tend to listen to music to help me figure out the character's reactions and emotions, so if anyone wants to recommend some music that could help me get a handle on Naru's character, that would be very much appreciated. In case you're wondering, I used Adele as the inspiration for Mai, especially 'Cold Shoulder' and 'Someone Like You'. Thank you all!  
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	2. Ficlet One

The two knights meet on a field below an endless dark sky. Armed for battle, they slowly march towards each other.

The sky crackles with electricity and the wind wails its banshee screech. The clouds are bulbous distortions, and look ready to burst from the pressure.

In a battlefield underneath the dark cloudy sky, the two knights begin to fight.

The Gold Knight, its armor dented and worn, makes the first move.

_(Hello Naru.)_

The Black Knight blocks, and raises its hardened, spiked shield.

_(What do you want, Mai?)_

The Gold Knight falls back a step, but soon recovers. It feints to the left with a powerful swing of its sword.

_(I need to tell you something.)_

The Black Knight remains motionless, ignoring the feint. It waits for the Gold Knight to make the next move.

The Gold Knight begins a series of attacks, the first being a blow to the Black Knight's side.

_(We've been working together a long time, and I've really enjoyed my time here. With you.)_

The Black Knight dodges the attacks, and goes in for a strike to the head with the hilt of its sword.

_(Is that all?)_

The Gold Knight staggers back, but does not fall. It shakes off the pain and prepares itself for its final attack. It raises its sword and lunges.

_(Umm. Yea, there's something else. Listen Naru, I really li-)_

The Black Knight successfully blocks the blow, and knocks the sword of the Gold Knight's grasp. The sword falls a little to the side, just out of reach.

Useless.

_(Stop.)_

The Gold Knight stands defenseless, frozen in terror. It never even had a chance.

_(What?)_

The Black Knight raises its sword and plunges it through the elaborate breast plate of the Gold Knight.

Directly through the heart.

_( You don't love me.)_

The Gold Knight falls to its knees, with blood dripping out of the hole in its armor.

Yet the Black Knight pushes the sword in deeper still.

_(I'm not the one you dream about. I'm not the one you love.)_

The hilt of the sword breaks from the strain, leaving the black knight to fall forward on the jagged tip.

The sword now impales both warriors.

_(You love Gene. But don't worry. You'll see him again.)_

The wailing of the winds picks up, and clouds finally burst open. Fat drops of water land on the warriors, but the blood is merely dispersed. Not washed away. Never washed away.

It paints the ground red.

Both Knights now stand, slowly sliding off the sword. Yet one piece still lies in the heart of the Black Knight, the another in the heart of the Gold Knight.

They walk away, their battle finished. Both with wounds that will not heal. Both with pitch-black stains that they cannot wash.

There is no winner.

**A/N: Hello again! If you haven't figured it out, this chapter is basically Mai's confession to Naru. I wanted to avoid the normal style that people usually write this confession in, and using a foreign battlefield where two Knights fight to the death strangely appealed to me.**

**The chapters are going to be devoted more on concept, but this is one the few that is this abstract. Don't worry though, the next chapter is doing to be slightly after the events of the first chapter.  
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**I don't own Ghost Hunt! **

**Thanks to everybody who wrote a review! They make me giggle. They also motivate me to keep writing. **

**If any of you are worried by the length of this chapter, don't worry. The next chapter is going to be a colossus. It's a look into the mind of Naru, which is set during the holidays. It is disturbingly hard to get inside his head. It will probably be posted in the next day or two.  
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**Thank you all very reading!  
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	3. Chapter 3

As he gazed down at Mai laying beside him on the floor, he couldn't help but wonder how they had come to this point.

His was leaning on the table behind them, where the remains of a Christmas feast lay scattered. Due to weather conditions, he had been unable to return to England for the holidays, so he had resigned himself to finishing up some work in the newly opened time slot.

He hadn't expected for Mai to call him up to her apartment upstairs. And he definitely hadn't expected to see her nervously fidgeting next to a small table that was packed with food.

Under his questioning gaze, she had quickly stuttered her explanation. She didn't want to be alone during the holidays, and was wondering if he wanted to eat some of the food she had made. So that was the issue here. With the monk and the miko gone on vacation to the islands, John Brown off taking care of children at the orphanage, and Masako busy with a television special, she had been left quite alone.

As he had gazed at the food, he noticed how there were a lot of foreign dishes. She must have asked Lin and Madoka about the foods people normally ate in England during Christmas time. She had planned this, just because she might have been deluded by a false belief that he may be 'lonely'.

Maybe he was.

She had still been trying to explain the food when he had sat down on the cushions she had laid out. She had quickly followed suit, and they had dug in.

He had noticed how the apartment itself was rather small, but he supposed that its location directly above the SPR base made up for that. Mai had been living in this place after the team had found out her..unusual circumstances.

Thinking about it brought a fresh wave of irritation. Looking down at her, he could hardly believe that someone this small had actually been camping out in the park, all by herself.

She also hadn't told anyone when she had gotten evicted from her place. This brought on another frightening fact. They wouldn't have even found out about her situation if it wasn't for the injury she had sustained during the last case.

Takigawa had gone to her apartment to pick up some clothes for her to change into after she woke up. Imagine his surprise when he found that there was another family living there.

They had confronted her on the issue when she had woken up, and listened to her explain how she had fallen behind on payments. She hadn't told them because she didn't want to worry them.

After the ruckus that had soon followed, where it seemed like everybody had something to say to that, he had quickly made himself heard. He had previously purchased the entire building that SPR was based in, and there was an apartment directly above the office. He informed Mai that she would be staying there.

She had immediately opened her mouth to decline, but he had cut her off. He told her that the reason he was doing this was because if she caught a cold and broke some of the equipment, it would be more expensive to replace that than it was for her to just move into the flat.

She had gotten quite angry, and had very nearly speared him with her IV drip.

The injuries that she had sustained during the case weren't life threatening, but they were worrying. The case itself was rather irritating, not because of the dead entity that haunted the establishment, but because of the live one that refused to be quiet.

It had seemed that the employer had neglected to inform them that his nephew would be present at the building with his nurse. The newborn was barely a year old, in fact, and it was the mothers ghost that they believed was haunting the house. And the child had a screech worse than any ghostly wail he had ever heard.

Normally he would have just left the baby with the nurse and sent them both far, far away. But the nurse had been disturbed by the paranormal activity and had fled. Leaving the child.

By this point, he was giving serious thought into drugging the child to keep it quiet. It was quite a very irritating situation overall. He had been about to send the Miko to watch over the child at the base when Mai had intervened.

She had muttered something about instinct under her breath before picking up the infant. With deft movements she had it cooing in satisfaction within a few moments.

The team had stood shocked while she explained how she used to baby-sit for small children when she was younger. Takigawa had then tried to propose, and Mai had threatened to bash his head in with the baby bottle. Nonetheless, she hadn't let the child out of her sight for the remainder of the investigation. She had even carried it while filing papers, keeping them in her mouth as she moved.

Only now could he admit how distracting the sight was. He supposed that the two glasses of wine he had just ingested during the course of the meal were to blame for these thoughts.

He shifted his sight from the wall to her. Mai.

He hadn't realized how much he had missed her until he first noticed how active the SPR base was. He had nearly forgotten the way she'd move around when she was in the office. She seemed to sway to music that only she could hear and he could tell how much more of a handle she had on her body now.

Gone was the scrawny girl with the eternally petulant facial expressions he had left. He had returned to find a woman, one who was not so much scrawny as she was lithe. One with the same petulant facial expressions, but who was prone to giving soft smiles at the air as she dozed off with her eyes open.

The office had been filled with laughter for the first time in years, and he reveled in the sense of content this gave him. It was always nice to be surrounded by those you cared about.

And he did care for her. He knew that the others in the team hadn't believed this, especially after the rejection.

The rejection.

He was a mite surprised that no one had noticed that he never told his own feelings to Mai. He had simply told her that he couldn't accept her feelings. Because she was in love with Gene.

Some may call that callous to say, but it was the truth. It was never him that women fell in love with. He wasn't warm, or comforting, or even caring. That was Gene. Besides, he was used to letting things pass him by in favor of his brother.

He had done it his entire life, after all.

He had even given up his childhood for Gene. Growing up in an orphanage was tough, and if you didn't grown up, you didn't survive. Gene had always been a social child, and he had always preferred reading alone than playing with the other dirty kids. It had been a rather easy decision to make.

Rather than the both of them sacrificing their happiness, he would be the one to take care of Gene and make sure that Gene lived his childhood to its fullest.

After all, what was his happiness in comparison?

And so he had told Mai that she was in love with Gene. He did try to comfort her; he had even told her that she would meet Gene again one day. He should have been happy for his brother. But all he could feel after that confession was this strange feeling in the pit of his stomach.

She really was so much like Gene. They had the same effervescent smile and easy going attitude. Even Lin had noticed it, although he had chosen to push her away in response to their similarities.

He supposed that was the reason Lin had given him those strange looks after he had decided to hire her. Lin had thought that he was going to use her as a replacement for Gene.

There was some truth in that. After Gene had died, he had found himself completely alone. By shaping his life around Gene, his loss had shattered him.

He turned his back on the world. If the world was going to take away everyone he cared about, then he would have no part in it. He drew into himself and grew cold.

He cut himself off.

Then Mai had arrived and he had felt as if he had a second chance. He went out of his way to protect her, trying so hard to make up for how he had allowed Gene to leave to Japan on his own. He hadn't looked out for him.

He had killed his own brother.

But Mai was no replacement. She was something very new. He had been very surprised by her orphan status. How could someone who suffered so much from the hand that the world had dealt her be so happy? She had survived all on her own, with no one to help her. Yet, rather than wilt under the pressure, she had flourished all on her own.

She was such an exceptionally beautiful creature.

He took another look down at her prone form as she snored, and gave a start as he realized that his hand had moved.

Unbeknown to him, his fingers had intertwined pieces of her hair around themselves. Strange. He moved himself so that elbow was leaning next to her head, and he slowly examined her.

As he pinched a strand between his fingers, he almost expected her hair to cry out. It always seemed so alive when she moved. It bounced, swayed and almost seemed to be acting of its own accord. It almost seemed to glow.

What on earth was he thinking?

Those glasses of wine must have been more potent than he had thought. Here he was going on about how radiant his assistant-investigator was.

But she truly was. He was still applauding himself for getting her to agree to join her assistant status with her investigator title through the use of his own superior intellect.

Although he was a little suspicious of the smile she had had on her face as she left the room.

Still, he was glad it had happened. Mai provided some of the human connection that he had sorely missed during his time in England. If he thought about long enough, he would even say that she was the closest thing to a friend he'd ever had.

She treated him so much differently than he was used to being treated. It wasn't just her blatant disregard for his obviously superior intelligence, although that had been a pet peeve of his in the beginning.

She held him accountable for his actions.

He had met many people during the course of his lifetime, and he could narrow most of them down into two categories.

There were those who expected him to wield godly powers, and to be perfect in every which way. They pushed him to show off his PK powers, disregarding the risk it posed to his health. There were also those who were envious, and despised him for his talents. They smiled at his face, but plotted his downfall behind his back.

Mai was one of the few exceptions.

Scratch that, she was the exception, the question, and the solution all rolled up into a small package. If he acted like a pompous bastard, which Gene had informed him he was prone to doing, she was very quick to call him out on it. Very loudly.

If he had done something amazing, as he usually did, then she was sure to compliment him and show her appreciation. In short, she treated him like a person.

It was more than he'd ever had.

Even with his adoptive parents, he couldn't quite crush the feeling that he had to repay them. He had to work hard so that he could show them. He wasn't a mistake. He could be useful. Just give him the chance.

Before her, he had almost forgotten how it felt to have someone care for him. After Genes death, he had pushed everybody away so that he couldn't get hurt. He had even treated Mai with disdain when he first met her, going so far as to tricking her into working for him.

He had done all he could to make her hate him.

Because he just couldn't break away from her by himself. She was so much like Gene that something inside him fought against leaving her side. He had wanted to rid himself of those feelings, and had tried to get her reject him on her own. If she saw what a horrible person he really was, then she would just run away and leave him. Like the others.

But she hadn't.

She had seen through it all, and stayed. She had seen that there was a part of him, however small, that was good and she had stayed. She even worried about him when he was in the hospital. She was the strangest person he had ever met.

Yet, there had been actually been even more strangeness surrounding Mai lately. She seemed to be hiding something, and she had started to say such odd things.

Just a few days back, after he had solved another difficult case, she had been muttering something about how much work she would have to put in to 'fix a broken arrogance meter'.

It wasn't just that either. Lately, she had been very distant with the team. Something was bothering her, they could tell, but she didn't tell any of them. Even when Takigawa had flat out asked her, she merely evaded the question and ran off.

Yet, she seemed to have a new found sense of duty. It seemed like whenever he even thought about asking her something, she would appear. Almost like she knew when she was needed.

He had also caught her looking at him several times with this strange look. It wasn't even the usual look he was used to receiving from women.

This one was so very sad, but it was not so much upset as it was resigned. It was all very peculiar.

The case they had been on had also been rather strange. Especially his own reaction to several events during the course of the case. The most prominent being when Mai had been injured.

It had been his fault.

He felt his jaw tense up at the memory. While setting up the equipment, the husband of the dead wife had staggered in. He was the employers brother, and the employer had informed him that the man had taken his wife's death hard.

If 'hard' referred to liquor, then yes, the man had taken the death of his wife very hard. The man had reeked of alcohol, and Mai had even come to him to complain about it. He had instructed her to escort the man out and to make sure that he didn't return for the rest of day. She had been holding the child in her arms, and she had given it to the Miko to hold before she chased the man away.

It had happened so fast. It seemed the man had been keeping a bottle of liquor in his pocket, and when Mai had come near him, he had smashed it over her head.

Takigawa had been on him immediately, leaving Naru to stand by in the sidelines. He couldn't remember ever feeling that angry. It was like ice had replaced all the blood in his body, and all he could think about was ripping that man apart. Bit by drunken bit.

After Takigawa had thrown the man out, he had calmed down, but the strength of his emotions still shook him. Senseless violence had never come naturally to him, so he really had no idea where the impulse had come from. He was usually so good at controlling his emotions. In fact, it was how he had protected Gene.

There was no use in petty revenge at the orphanage, because you never knew when that person would just get you back, and worse. By keeping to himself, he stayed out of many a needless fight, protecting both himself and Gene. It hadn't matter to him that in order to do that he had needed to cut him himself off from all the children. If keeping his emotions inside protected Gene, then he would do it without hesitation.

Yet, in that one moment, he just couldn't stand the idea of someone hurting Mai.

It confused him. He had never felt like this before. He had never had much human contact, and as such, he had no standard for which to compare these feelings to.

He gave a sudden start as he felt a warm breath on his hand. Mai was mumbling something under her breath, and she gave a small snort as she tossed her head back and forth. Before he realized what was happening, he had pulled the jacket up on her so that she was adequately protected.

He could really see how much she had changed. Even in a ratty, knitted sweater, the soft sweetness of her face still shown. In fact, it was his sweater she was wearing.

His parents had sent him the gift a week ago, and in an effort to rid himself of the thing, he had given it to Mai. She had lit up so fast. And for the rest of the day, the office was filled with laughter and the sound of carols being sung very off-tune.

He supposed that the dinner was her way of thanking him. Nothing fancy or modern, just regular home cooking. It was still very good, and they had shared the meal as they discussed the merits of advertising for the company.

After that, she had turned on the small television that Takigawa had brought her and they had settled down to watch The Christmas Carol. They had exchanged looks at the arrival of the ghosts, his being an amused smirk and hers a small grin. Mai had fallen asleep soon afterwords and he was left to the task of covering her up with his jacket so that she didn't catch a cold.

It was strange how comfortable she had become around him, going so far as to let her guard down by sleeping beside him. Although, during the day, she did seem to tense up when he approached her. He could sometimes see that sad, resigned look peering out just beneath the facade of the crooked smiles she gave him.

But she looked so peaceful now, he could hardly believe it. She looked different, almost like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. He glanced down to her hands, which she was using as a pillow underneath her cheeks. They were bandaged, and still rather red.

Who had known that she had such a good right hook?

They had found that the reason the wife was haunting the house was because the nurse had been neglecting the child. It seemed motherly instinct went beyond the grave.

Yet, the nurse had had the gall to return at the end of the case to claim her severance pay. When the employer had refused it, she had tried to snatch the baby from its crib.

That was a mistake.

Mai's hand had gone out so fast it had been a blur. She had landed a solid punch, and had knocked the nurse out. Everybody had been questioning her about it, all astonished, or proud, as was the case with Takigawa. Blushing profusely, she had replied that it was just instinctive.

Then she had clammed up and evaded the rest of their questions. She did take advantage of this new found fear in her physical abilities by later slamming a platter of food down in front of him and demanding that he eat. She had heard from Lin that he had been so busy in the case that he had forgotten to properly feed himself.

She had even threatened to poison his tea, to which he had replied that he would simply use his psychometric abilities to inspect the tea before he drank it.

He had eventually eaten the food, but had filed away her reaction for further inspection. It had been so strange. She had released an almost quiet sigh of relief after he started eating, almost as it his reluctance to eat was somehow hurting her. But that was preposterous.

He gave a yawn, and was forced to untangle his hand from her hair in order to cover his mouth. Even now, the hand felt very strange. He even had to resist the compulsion to touch her again.

When had this happened?

She had dug herself into his life so fast that he hadn't even had enough time to realize before she had erected her own pedestal in his mind.

Even his time in England had been spent thinking about her. It would happen at any odd moment, where he would suddenly catch himself thinking about how she would react to this, or remembering the look on her face whenever he would explain some abstract paranormal fact for her understanding. She had forgotten that she had been the one to first ask him to explain the psychic concepts to her during their first case.

Looking back on their first cases together, he remembered how she had always defended him to others. It was unnerving to someone as independent as him. He wasn't used to other people caring. Even with Gene, it had been him and Gene against the world.

But she had wound herself into his mind so well that he doubted that he could ever untangle her. She sometimes even managed to make want to smile, despite his mourning.

No, it was more like she made him forget.

Forget that the world was full of so much pain, forget that he had killed his own brother, and forget the horrible self-loathing that had twisted itself into his very soul. She ripped those smiles from him, and left him gasping for breath in her wake.

He didn't know why he had returned to Japan. He had told everyone that it was because of the excess of cases left for him to solve, but he really didn't know.

He was confused.

He had even tried to bounce ideas off Mai, but that had mixed results. He had tried to talk to her about how her spiritual powers were increasing, and how it was good that he and Lin were here to help her out with them. He had even remarked about how it was likely that her powers would have stayed dormant if there hadn't been any cases to first stimulate them.

She had frozen up, and then she had ran out of the room, shaking. Almost like she was trying to repress sobs of anguish. But he must have been mistaken because she had turned up a few minutes later with a bright smile on her face.

Looking like nothing had happened.

He couldn't even confide these strange observations and feelings to Lin because of the wedding. Lin was so busy with preparations for his upcoming wedding to Madoka that he was barely present in the office at all nowadays.

That left him and Mai alone in the office, and he had actually started taking his papers up to her apartment. He had told her that he did this so that he would be able to send him his tea all the faster. She had rolled her eyes, but she had still brought it to him. She had even started making biscuits and leaving those in a plate beside the tea.

She really did make the most amazing biscuits. And her face always lit up when she came to pick up the empty tray. She still managed to trip over most of the chairs in the apartment, but sometimes he even helped her up afterward.

In his half asleep, slightly intoxicated state, he could finally admit that he always wanted to be there to protect her.

She was his equal in so many ways, and he could hardly imagine his life without her. These strange thoughts were probably a sign that he should go to sleep before he started to lose some valuable brain cells.

He slowly rose, cracking his back as he did so. It was very late, and he didn't feel in the mood to scare the pants off Lin by driving in this state. He fixed the jacket around Mai as he left, giving an amused smirk as she tried to snuggle closer to him. He supposed that he would just have to stay in the guest bedroom.

And Mai should probably learn to pay more attention to where she slept. He couldn't have her dozing off in some abandoned shed during a case, so he decided that he would teach her this lesson by leaving her to sleep on the floor tonight.

He could already hear her yelling at him.

As he made his way to the room, he could still see her face imprinted onto the back of his eyelids. And with a sigh, Naru decided that he was actually happier than he had been in a long time.

Those strange feelings that had risen up in response to his return were still confusing, but he gave them no thought. After all, he was the world-renowned Oliver Davis. He would figure them out, and find out the reason for Mai's strange behavior. Yet, as he felt himself start to doze off, he realized that he had figured one thing out during these inane ramblings of his mind.

Mai was certainty exceptional.

**A/N: Hello again all! I don't own Ghost Hunt! **

**Thank you for all your wonderful reviews! They always push me to write faster!  
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**I hope you enjoyed this chapter, even if it isn't set directly after the first. But, I still gave plenty of hints of Mai's powers here too! If you read closely, you can also see some connections I made between this chapter and the first one.  
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**Naru's head is so hard to get into to. I had to re-read to entire series before I got this much of a handle on it. I hope I didn't disappoint any of you with this chapter. I tried to make him seem more like the young man he is. He may act like an adult, but even in the books you could see how he still had some childish qualities. Such as making fun of Mai. I tried to show how he is not a 'superhero', and that he just as confused as Mai is.**

**I find it oddly befitting that I had to get him drunk and sleep-deprived to order to even get him to admit anything about Mai. Building a relationship between the two whilst keeping him in character may be hard, but it is doable.  
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**The next chapter is already written, and I can tell you that it will be in Mai's head. It will focus on her growing powers, and a bit about Gene. I will also start to introduce the faint traces of plot into it. Expect it to be posted within the next few days.  
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**Thank you!  
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	4. Chapter 4

As she fell on her butt for the seventeenth time that day, Mai officially decided that she hated Dojos.

Bou-san gave her a hand as she stood up, clutching her aching back.

'Now Jou-chan, you have to actually attack when you're fighting. That's the entire point!' he exclaimed with a tired sigh.

'I'm trying!' she grumbled back. She really was. But whenever she even _tried_ to attack him, her spiritual instinct would hold her in place by tensing her muscles up. She could barely defend herself, much less launch a counter attack. Her spiritual instinct didn't seem to take kindly to her hurting what it thought of as family.

And so she was forced to take the hits.

'I think we should wrap it up for the day. But don't worry your little head Jou-chan, we'll be back next week!' Bou-san said with a bright smile.

'Just great.' she groaned. She was completely sore. It seriously felt like her muscles were trying to kill her.

' Remember to pack everything up! I'm going to go check if Ayako is here with our ride!' Bou-san yelled as he left the room.

She couldn't even respond to that. This was some maniacal torture, invented just to punish sweet girls like herself.

She was so tired too. It seemed like no matter how long she slept, she would just wake up feeling worse then before. It wasn't that she was having any bad dreams.

The dreams were just too good.

And so when she woke up all wanted was to just go back to sleep. To revel in the heaven that her dreams provided just a little longer.

She was so happy in them. She could never quite remember what they were about, but a few pieces from the dreams always remained in her mind.

Like the smell of flowers, and that there were trees. So many trees, all stretching to the sky with their branches. And there was laughter, soft and sweet. And she always felt so safe. So free.

Unlike during the day, where she would have to fight body and mind against her spiritual instinct.

And Naru was not helping at all. He hadn't changed much in these five years, personality wise, but he seemed to have this new habit that she just couldn't quite adjust to.

He kept touching her.

Nothing big, but it was a surprising change from the cranky old hermit he was five years ago. Now, their fingers would brush when he took the tea from her hands, his arm would brush hers as they passed by, and one time he had even touched her shoulder.

That time had been almost unbearable. He had been looking at a folder on her desk, and had laid his hand on her shoulder to steady him. Whether it was a conscious decision from him or not, her spiritual instinct had reacted. It had sent ripples of happiness throughout her whole body, and she had had to dig her nails into her palms just to keep from turning around and wrapping her arms around him.

But throughout the episode, her heart had hurt. Her spiritual power had done what it could with her body, but her heart still hurt. It remembered the pain he had put her through, with his insults, his aloofness, and his rejection. It had squeezed into itself, just radiating pain.

She felt like she was being besieged by two enemy armies. Both with contradictory notions of what she should feel, and it had gotten to the point where she hadn't even know what she was supposed to feel anymore.

It had ripped her apart.

Especially since Gene was still there, right in between them. She could see it in the looks Naru gave her from the corner of his eyes. Even if Genes spirit had passed away, the ghost of his memory still remained.

Haunting them.

She still couldn't believe how Naru could ever think she was in love with Gene.

Gene wasn't the one that she worked with. Gene wasn't the one who jumped into danger to protect her. Gene wasn't the one that got her so worked up at him until he did something so completely wonderful to make her change her mind. Gene wasn't the one that made a complete fool of himself just to keep her from crying. Gene wasn't the one that made her heart race, and her blood pound in her head.

Gene wasn't the one that she loved.

Why couldn't he understand that?

Just because she had seen him in her dreams didn't mean that she was in love with him. It had been Naru that she had been exposed to on a regular basis, not Gene. She had hardly ever seen Gene! Heck, she dreamed more about flying rainbow lobsters than she had about Gene, but that doesn't mean that she's in love with those scary rainbow crustaceans.

Naru and Gene are so easy to tell apart too. If she could go back to the beginning with what she knew now, then she would have been able to tell the two apart in a heartbeat. It was all in their smiles. Gene had smiled a lot, but as warm as those smiles were, they were nothing compared to those from Naru. A 'Naru Smile' was much more precious because it was just so _rare_. He had suffered so much, and so it took much more for him to smile. It was her belief that it took much more courage for him to truly smile. Not his fake smiles, because she could spot those from a mile away.

Even when she had first met him, walking into that classroom and scaring her and her friends half to death, she had automatically known that he was wearing a fake smile. It was his true smiles, the ones that he only gave out only once in a blue moon, that she wanted. That she needed. And those were the smiles that blew her away, those were the smiles that left her gasping for breath.

Not those from Gene.

Even when she had thought they were the same person, she had noticed that something was off in those Dream-Naru' smiles.

They were too easy. Too warm. Too free of the burdens that Naru always carried around. If she had had more time, she would have realized the truth. But she hadn't had that time. Naru had found the place he was looking for all too soon, and she had tried to confess her feelings to him.

And he had rejected her.

He was so incredibly dense. She could tell that had like, no experience socializing around people in the least. Because really, who uses magic tricks to stop a girl from crying? But then again, those stupid coin tricks had been the only things that had kept her from going into hysterics back then, down in that hole. Still, it was obvious that he had absolutely no experience in comforting crying girls.

Unlike her new penchant for comforting crying children. She had told the team that it had been a trick she'd picked up from baby-sitting, but that hadn't been the whole truth.

Her spiritual instinct had actually pushed her into doing it. It hadn't needed to push hard though; she already loved kids. That was why she always paid special attention to the children during a case. She didn't want them to feel lonely.

Like she used to.

But not anymore. She had a family now, and people who loved her. She would do anything for them. Even if it meant keeping this secret from them. She couldn't let them suffer too. This was her burden.

And her spiritual instinct was helping her, in a way. Before, it had only given her general feelings of when there was danger. But now she found that she could actually tell when her friends were upset, or when she was needed. That way she could help them. And it was fun seeing Narus face when she would hand him the file he needed before he even asked her for it.

It was an 'almost-sorta-kinda-surprised face', still hardly a change from his regular face. Because really, she expected that man the same bored expression on even if he was knee-deep in quick sand.

She gave a deep sigh and let her spiritual pressure out a bit, allowing it to wash over her. She stopped untying the ropes on the punching bag she had been putting away and let her hands fall to her side.

This entire Dojo idea had been stupid.

Just because she'd gotten hurt the last case didn't mean that she needed to learn self-defense. And that stupid punch had been a fluke. Her spiritual instinct had moved her hand before she had even known what was going on. But Bou-san had taken that punch as a sign that his 'little Jou-san' had some amazing fighting skills hidden away somewhere. And now she was all sore and tired, with absolutely nothing to show for it.

But she let let this all go as another wave of happiness washed over her. The one good thing about her spiritual instinct was that it provided a good pick me up. Like spiritual crack.

And boy did she need it. She had been pushing the compulsions down, and the strain had been getting to her. Just last week she had had a meltdown.

Madoka had actually gotten Naru to go with Lin to choose out his suit for the wedding. And of course she had forced them to go to the most sophisticated, pricey boutique in Japan. Which had been over 50 miles from the SPR base. They had been gone for days.

Leaving her alone with a spiritual instinct that had demanded she be by his side. In punishment it had released waves of nail-biting pain. It had felt like a knife was slowly ripping her apart. And she couldn't do anything to stop it.

She had never felt so helpless.

She had even been forced to stay home and take a sick day. And she had spent that day lying in her bed, curled up into a ball. The only thing that had helped was the jacket Naru had left a few weeks back.

That Christmas day had been amazing, but she had woken up ridiculously sore the next day. She had realized what had happened after she had found that she had been using his jacket as a blanket. That arrogant man had actually left her to sleep on the floor! So, in retaliation she had kept his jacket.

And it was the same jacket she had clutched during the pain. His smell still hung from it, and it had eased her spiritual instinct a little. She was beyond relieved when he had finally returned, grumpy and tired. It was the only time the pain had let up.

She had been scared for days afterwords. He held such power over her, and he didn't even know it! She had spent the next few days walking just a few steps behind him, or at least until he had confronted her. He even had the nerve to ask her if she had taken a new part time job as his personal shadow! Such a jerk.

But even her anger hadn't covered up her new found fear.

Because if that was what her spiritual instinct did when he was away and safe, then what would it do if he was near and hurt? The thought of him getting injured terrified her, and not just for the obvious reasons. She knew, just _knew, _that if Naru got hurt, she wouldn't be far beyond. She didn't doubt for a second that her spiritual power would push her to her own death before it let anything touch him.

She had been trying to take out the pressure from her spiritual instinct by allowing it a few minutes of freedom. Only when she was alone, and only when she was away from Naru. It rewarded her by making her happy in those minutes, and she eagerly snatched that time up.

She gave a deep sigh as another wave of happiness encompassed her. She could do this. She could do this. She had to.

She had no choice.

Mai was so absorbed in her own thoughts that she didn't hear the rope holding the punching bag up snap. She hadn't noticed that Bou-san had just returned to the room. She didn't hear him yell in warning.

'MAI!'

She snapped her eyes open just to time to see a punching bag the size of a fully grown man heading straight for her.

Fight or Flight.

Something deep inside her pushed out, and there was a bright _'flash_',

Lost, she found herself surrounded by glowing orbs. And that same soft, sweet laughter seemed to surround her. With a start, she realized it was coming from the orbs.

She reached out to touch one, her hand moving impossibly slow, but it just disappeared right before her hand could reach it. And suddenly, she realized that she was falling. And as she fell, she couldn't rid herself of this strange feeling.

Almost like disappointment.

She blinked her eyes open to find that she was in a dark room. There were boxes stacked all around her, and she seemed to be on top of them. Judging by the old, dusty workout equipment, she guessed that she was in the storage room.

She must have collapsed after that bag had hit her. She felt exhausted, like she'd just gotten hit by a truck. Well, she had in a way. Bou-san must have moved her here to rest. But still, he had actually put her in a storage room?

With an irritated groan, she jumped down from the box she had been on top of. After giving her eyes some time to adjust to the dark, she could see the faint outline of a door. She walked towards it, coughing to get rid of the obscene amount of dust that seemed to be around her. With a noise of exasperation, she grabbed the door handle and pushed it open.

'Mai!' That was Ayako's voice. Mai turned to find the miko running towards her, with Bou-san quick on her heels.

'Where on earth did you go! We've been looking everywhere!' Ayako cried before wrapping her arms around Mai, and rocking her from side to side.

'What?' Mai answered. She hadn't gone anywhere, weren't they the ones who moved her to the storage room?

Now it was Bou-sans turn to talk. 'I saw the bag fall, but then there was this light and then Wham! No Mai!' he cried, clapping his hands together for emphasis.

She had disappeared from the room? Her heart sank as she realized what had happened. It was the natural instinct of all animals. Fight or Flight. Her spiritual power had chosen Flight, and it had actually teleported her out of danger. By bending the laws of time and space.

It was getting stronger.

**A/N: Hello again! I hope you all enjoyed this! It isn't as long as the previous ones, but that's because those were primarily for starting everything off. I had to get a focus on how they were feeling before I could go on to the actions that result out of it.  
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**I don't own Ghost Hunt!**

**I am sorry to say I won't be able to update for next couple of weeks. The end of the school year is fast approaching, and I need to take some very important tests. But no worries! After that, I'll be able to regularly update for your viewing pleasure! Actually, I never even meant to upload this much! But your lovely reviews actually got me to give out more than I meant to.  
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**I am in no way forgetting this fic, I have way too many ideas left. The update will have its setting at the wedding, and it will feature more of her powers. It's already written, so I can assure you that you will have it after my exams are done!  
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**I just love the reviews you guys have been giving! They make me feel all bubbly! Thank you all!**

**If I have some extra time, I may upload a mini chapter, kinda like the second one. You guys may have to push me on this, cause if I get too busy, I might forget.  
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**You guys are just so awesome! Thank you all!  
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	5. Chapter 5

"Now Jou-chan, you can't possibly eat all that food!" Bou-san exclaimed as he stared down at her loaded plate with shock.

"Hey! It's not your wedding, and I'm a growing girl! I need my nutrition." Mai replied, sticking out her tongue.

"Still, I could feed an entire monastery with that food. You're not eating for two are you?" He teased as he wriggled his eyebrows.

Mai flicked her spoon towards his face. Direct hit to the forehead! Bou-san wiped his face as he grumbled under his breath about there still being food in the spoon.

Serves him right! But still, even she had to admit that it was a lot of food. The plate was full to bursting, and there was even a smaller plate next to it with even more. It was Madoka's wedding to Lin, and they had wisely decided to put a buffet in. Mai had heaped her plate with a lot of everything, and then some. She really need it, too.

After the "disappearing incident", as they now called it, she had been in an almost constant state of hunger. Since her spiritual power got stronger, it seemed that she needed to eat more and more just to keep herself sated. The feeling had been growing weaker over the past few days, but for the present, she was still starving. And she would probably stay that way for a little while longer.

Just great.

"Mai?"

She gave a start as she felt someone touch her hand. Bou-san. He had his hand on hers as he stared, concerned, at her. She snatched her hand away, utterly annoyed.

"Bou-san, just because my powers went wacko that one time doesn't mean that I'm going to go 'poof' in the middle of the dining table! I was just thinking. Stop treating me like a child!" Mai cried, frustrated. It had taken her weeks to convince them that she was stable enough to go to the wedding, and still they were checking up with her.

Bou-san quickly backed off, with a small huff of irritation. She hadn't wanted to freak out at him, but she was getting very, very sick and tired of their constant hovering. There was only so much a girl could take, after all. And being cooped up in a house for nearly a month was far too much. Really, she hadn't even done anything that scary. Just went 'poof' a little in the middle of a dojo. No biggie.

Although, Mai hadn't really gone 'poof' exactly. The storage room was directly underneath the training room of the dojo, so she hadn't really teleported as much as she had 'fell'. By turning her body into spiritual matter and phasing through the ground. Either way, the team had been afraid to let her out of their sight, just in case she might do it again.

Mai couldn't blame them.

It turned out that she had used up so much energy 'passing through' that she had soon passed out after Ayako and Bou-san had found her. She had been knocked out for almost a week before she had woken up. And surprisingly, her first sight had been Naru. He had been sitting a chair next to her bed, looking like he hadn't moved for a while. Mai had actually been a little touched at this, at least until he had opened his mouth.

He had lectured her for hours on 'proper usage of spiritual powers' and 'stop doing stupid things Mai'. Sometimes she thought that he had been born grumpy. Really, what had put him in such a terrible mood?

He had even assigned someone from the team with her at all times when she wasn't on lock-down in the SPR building. Mai had, of course, protested. She had even sarcastically suggested that he just handcuff her to the bed, but he had just smirked and said that that was plan B.

He had eventually let the security up so that she could go to the wedding, but still- rude. And she hadn't wanted to miss this for the world. Lin had been so adorably nervous throughout the entire ceremony. And she had photographic proof! Mai giggled in hysterical excitement, fantasizing of what she would do with that kind of blackmail. She ignored Bou-san as he tried to inch away from her, obviously freaked out with her behavior. Really, Yasuhara wasn't the only one allowed to be maniacal.

This wedding had been such a dream. They had had it in such a beautiful building, one which could feasibly double as a castle on the weekends. Flowers were everywhere, ranging from large carnations in their beautiful arrangements to the small daises that were scattered along the floor. Madoka had been absolutely gorgeous in her dress, and even Lin had looked quite dashing. The ceremony had been a little long, but it had been absolutely spectacular.

The ceremony had been so beautiful in fact, that Mai had gone through quite a bit of tissues throughout it, much to the ire of Naru. The man simply couldn't understand why people would cry at weddings, and she had long since given up trying to explain it to him. His was a mind of cool logic and calculations, where something as abstract as being moved to tears by happiness simply did not compute.

Mai gave a sigh as she remembered the look of disdain on his face when he had glanced at her mountain of clumped up tissues. Well, even that hadn't put a damper on her mood. Her spiritual instinct was acting rather well behaved, and there had even been times where she could almost forget it existed. Hardly a single overwhelming compulsion towards Naru! Mai couldn't help but hope that it was maybe, possibly, please, oh please- _receding_. Because of this wild hope, she was in a phenomenally good mood.

Well, the food also put her in a good mood as well. Mai had needed to blink a few times after she had seen the dinner table. Or rather, tables. Tables and tables of the most exotic, delicious and mouth watering dishes she had ever seen! A buffet of this size was exactly what her bottomless pit of a stomach needed at the moment. She wasn't sure why she was so hungry, but she did remember something Naru had told her about how her body was trying to get the expended energy back.

Mai could only shrug at this. Feeling hungry was one of the lesser ordeals her spiritual instinct could put her through. All she needed to know was that she could dig in, and eat as much as she wanted. The food was so good too! She could barely recognize some of the dishes because they were so strange. Gourmet food! Growing up as an orphan, she had never eaten, or even looked at anything like what was being put before her now. She desperately wanted to know what they all were, but Naru would probably just make some comment on her intelligence if she asked him. The Jerk-face.

But no matter what personal reservations Mai had about him at the moment, even she had to admit that he looked good today. The man was stunning in black, but he was absolutely breathtaking in blue. It was dark blue, but nonetheless, she had no idea how Madoka had gotten him to wear it.

Not for the first time, Mai suspected that Madoka had magic powers. Strong ones too, if she could withstand the patented 'Oliver Davis Glare' he had given her when she had told him. Mai gave a small snicker as she witnessed a girl who couldn't trying to talk to him. It looked like Naru had been trying to get to his seat, but the girl seemed to have blocked him, and was now trying to flirt with him. Ugh. Another one.

Even with his ever present 'grumpy face' on, Naru had managed to attract quite a number of girls during the ceremony. They had fawned over him, at least until he opened his mouth and scared them away. There had even been some brave ones who had actually tried to ask him out. Mai gave a wince as she watched, yet another girl, running away in tears. Naru really was the worst confess-ee ever.

Mai would know.

He also seemed to attract very, very clumsy girls. Because really, every girl that had tried to come up to him had been involved in some incident or another. One had tripped, another had spilled her drink all over herself, and some other girl had even ripped her dress right down the middle. Mai would normally pity them, but really, they should have known what they were getting into by talking to Naru. She was actually suspecting that he was causing the incidents, probably with his evil glare of ultimate doom.

Mai had no time to finish this train of thought, as a loud crash startled her back to reality. There goes yet another one, she silently commented as the girl who had just confessed to him broke her heel and fell. She even rolled a little before hitting a rather large flower arrangement. Hard.

Ouch, that's gotta hurt.

If they had asked her, Mai would have warned them about him. But no, some of them had actually pushed her out of the way in order to sit next to him at his dinner table. Leaving her to sit next to Bou-san and Ayako. Her only comfort had been that Naru's glare of doom had almost had them in tears after a few minutes. These girls really didn't know the first thing about him.

But Mai did. She knew that he didn't like vapid girls, ignorance, and well- a whole bunch of other things. She also knew that Naru really, really didn't like people fighting over him like how those girls were doing. Whether this stemmed from his time in the orphanage, Mai didn't know. What she did remember was how mad he had gotten during the Gellerini case, when Ayako and Masako had tried to fight over him.

She gave a shudder as she recalled the look in his eyes when the dam had finally burst and he'd started to yell at them. Strangely enough, Naru didn't get angry like she'd thought he would. He was always so cold all the time, so nobody had expected his anger to be that...explosive. Thankfully, Ayako and Masako had already learned their lessons by now, but the girls in this wedding were still figuring it out. Well, those hilarious incidents they all seem to get in would help.

Mai gave an irritated look as she watched Naru walk back to his seat, completely ignoring the traffic wreck of a girl behind him. How on earth could he look so composed and in control? Well, that was Naru. He had the ultimate one track mind, and if something did not interest him, then he paid absolutely no attention to it. Or insulted it. Either one, really.

As Mai learned her chair back, she could see that the chairs next to him had been finally been replaced. It had turned out that they had been broken. So, when those girls that had pushed her out of the way had tried to sit in them, the chairs had completely fallen apart. The girls had fallen straight to the ground, and had run away after they realized that Naru still wasn't going to pay attention to them, even to help them up.

The chairs had laid in splinters on the ground afterwords, and well, it had actually been a little strange. They had almost looked like they had rotted from the inside out, kind of like really old wood. But of course, that wasn't the case. Bad craftsmen ship had been the true villain. But still, those girls would probably be picking splinters out for a week. Boy, was Mai glad she hadn't been sitting in those chairs.

'If you're not going to eat the food, you should at least give it to me.'

Mai gave a start, and looked down to see Bou-san's fork suspended over her dishes. With a scowl, she used her own fork smack his hand. After giving a satisfied smile at his sharp hiss of pain, she picked up a small piece of food with her fork and plopped it in her mouth.

Mai quickly spit it out. She made a face as she realized she had just eaten a Brussels sprout. Ugh. Gourmet or not, those things are pure evil. Ignoring Bou-san's wide grin at her expense, she scanned her plate for something to take the putrid taste out of her mouth. Ooh, Ayako had said that the grilled meat was rabbit. Mai picked up a big piece with her fork and shoved it into her mouth, ignoring Bou-san and John's astounded looks.

Really, they were acting like she was some kind of magician. She could eat whatever she wanted! Mai quickly gulped the bite down in order to stick out her tongue at them.

Or at least, she tried to. But suddenly her psychic power reared up and she felt herself getting very dizzy.

The room swayed as her head filled with images. The floor underneath her seemed to fall away as they flashed through her head. A dark hole. A big, meaty hand reaching in. Grabbing her by the throat and dragging her out. The frightened screams of her children right before the hand had snapped her neck. _'Crack'_

"Mai! What's happening?"

Bou-san's voice snapped her out of it. Mai shook as she looking around to make sure that she was back in the dining hall. She was covered in a cold sweat and she found that was panting from exertion. Mai looked up with wild eyes to see everybody's concerned faces, staring right at her. She opened her mouth to make up some excuses, but something else threatened to come up.

Mai quickly stood up and ran to the bathroom, barely making it before she began to puke. Tears squeezed out from her closed lids as her ears still rang with the frightened screams of the baby rabbits. She could still feel the dirt underneath her paws- _fingers_, she corrected herself. Having a vision that was set in the mind of someone else did not mean that she was that person. Or animal.

A few minutes later, her heaving brought up nothing, just pain as it clenched her stomach muscles. Mai gazed down with pity at her ruined green dress, remembering how long Ayako, Masako and her had looked around for it. Her forehead still felt hot, so she leaned against the wall of the stall, trying to soak in some of its cold.

So, her spiritual instinct was at it again. It seemed that it's reach had extended to food choices as well as personal ones. How could this happen? It had been behaving so well during the ceremony. It hadn't even sent her that many compulsions towards Naru. Her good mood was all but destroyed, and she found that she was actually very upset about this.

For a moment, Mai had actually believed that maybe it was done. That maybe she was normal. And well, if it wasn't using its power to force her towards Naru, then what had it been doing? She wasn't as naive to think that it would leave her alone out of sheer pity. It had probably been doing something freaky or strange when she hadn't been paying attention. But, the ceremony had gone along perfectly, well, almost perfectly because those clumsy girls kept getting into those ridiculous accidents-

Mai paled as she finally put the pieces together.

She felt like puking again as she realized what it had been doing. Her spiritual instinct had been making the girls who went up Naru get into those accidents. They weren't just clumsy. The broken heel, the ruined dress, the broken chairs- all her powers.

Mai felt horrible, and not just because of her vomiting. Those poor girls. They hadn't deserved her territorial spiritual instinct accosting them when they were just trying to talk to a guy. That just wasn't fair. But, as bad as she felt about it, she couldn't do anything about it. She couldn't exactly go up to those girls and say 'Sorry, but my weirdo psychic powers didn't want you getting close to that guy'. Yea. That wouldn't go over too well.

So, Mai just had to keep it in. Great, yet another thing she couldn't talk about. She was getting so _tired_ of it all. And this freaky rabbit death flashback was just another sign reminding her that she couldn't walk away from this. Even if she was getting completely sick of it. But of course she couldn't show this.

Mai could hear the team's quick steps as they rushed into the bathroom, and she could almost sense the questions buzzing around in their heads. After taking a deep breath to steady her, Mai raised her head to look into the worried faces of the team.

Ayako was already leaning forward to wash Mai's face with a napkin, and she was mumbling intelligible words of comfort. Masako was standing as elegantly as she could near the mirrors, pretending not to be interested in the least. John was staying as close to the door as he possibly could, probably because he wasn't comfortable with the idea of being in the woman's room. Of course, Bou-san had no such reluctance, and was standing right next to her, his face both concerned and scared.

'Are you sure you're not pregnant?" He nervously joked. Mai couldn't even summon up a decent glare at that, so she settled for a poor one.

'No! It's just some bad food, I'll be fine." She calmly lied. She couldn't tell them the real story of course, they'd just get even more worried. She would just have to blame the whole thing on food poisoning, and hope they bought it.

'Was the 'bad food' also responsible for your psychic vision back there?'

That voice wasn't Bou-san's. It had come from behind him, near the door.

Naru.

'That was-That was just a fluke! It was nothing okay? I'm fine now." Mai responded as she rose, trembling, from the tiled floor. She took a quick look at Masako, who was standing by the mirrors with the sleeve of her perfect kimono covering her mouth. Judging by how Masako wasn't heaving buckets, she probably hadn't had the same vision, which was strange. Normally Mai's powers pulled Masako along for the visions, but then again, this vision had been anything but normal.

And Naru seemed to somehow sense that as well, if the calculating look he was directing at her was anything to go by. As a researcher, he probably knew all the telltale signs of a psychic vision, and she had probably exhibited most of them back there. But, no matter how much she desperately wanted to be comforted after that horrible vision, she couldn't risk Naru finding out about her strange powers. She couldn't let any of them find out.

With this thought, she slowly stood up, brushing the wrinkles out of her dress. Mai pulled on the same mask she always did in times of crisis and gave everybody a cheerful grin. She quickly thanked Ayako for the napkin as she started towards the door.

'I see.' Naru responded when she ignored him as she passed him by the door, but Mai knew him well enough to see the real meaning behind that statement. 'I see.' in Naru-speak meant 'I am in no way falling for that pitiful excuse, Mai, and we will talk about this later'.

Mai walked out as calmly as she could out of the bathroom, holding her head high. She turned to see that the team was following her, and they all looked very distressed. With how horrid she felt right now, she just couldn't deal with them asking her about it as well. She would only feel worse after lying to them.

She called to them, trying to sound as lighthearted as possible, and said ' Guys, I'm fine!' Judging from their looks of disbelief, they weren't buying that. Trying to alleviate their concerns she continued to talk .

'Really, I am. I just need to lay down for a bit, okay? Then I'll be right as rain!' Mai gave a wide grin at them, trying to look as happy as she could despite the weight in her throat.

'Are you sure?' John said tentatively, obviously nervous with the idea of her going off alone. He really was a nice person, but right now, she just really wanted to be alone.

"John, you're acting like Naru. I'll just be in the reception hall, resting for a bit. I'm not gonna disappear or anything, you know.' Mai gave an amused smirk as John quickly reddened. Facing the rest of them, she gave another bright smile before slowly walking away, trying to keep balance on her small heels. She could sense that they were still looking at her, so she called back. 'I'm fine, guys!'

Mai walked the steps away from them as resolutely as she could, determined to keep appearances up. If she faltered for a step, one of them would most likely run forward to help. No matter what happened, she was not going to show any weakness. No matter how much she wanted to. Story of her life, huh?

Her pretending seemed to have paid off, because no one followed her as she turned the corner to the grand reception hall. Maybe she could do this! Now, if only she could figure out what had just happened.

Mai walked a little to the side, and found that they still hadn't put away the chairs from the ceremony. She took a seat next to an extravagant bouquet of carnations, and heaved a loud sigh. Her ears were still ringing with the screams from the vision, and she found that her hands were also shaking.

Mai had had a great deal of dreams about people's deaths, but she had never in the history of her powers had one about an animal's. She remembered reading something about how animals didn't have enough spirit to leave traces for a psychic to pick up, and if she followed that line of reasoning, then she shouldn't have even had that freaky vision. But she had, and that was the problem.

She didn't even know how her powers worked anymore! Even though she had put in quite a bit of time researching, trying to find a clue, just a hint of what was going on with her, but to her extreme disappointment - Nada. After the incident at the dojo, Mai had even started looking through the psychic tomes that Naru had lying around the office.

Mai had had a lot of free time after Naru had refused to let her leave the house, and she had used it to do some research. For someone so neat, he sure pitched his books all over the place! But, she knew that this was more to due to the fact that he expected her pick them up than it was to any disorderly habits he may have. Despite this, she made sure not to let him see her reading the books, and only hid away a few of them under her bed.

The only reason that he had even let her outside of the house for the wedding was because Mai had claimed that she had complete control over her powers. If he found out that she was doubting that, even for a second, he wouldn't hesitate to lock her away again. And next time, he would probably watch over her himself, instead of leaving that task for the rest of the team. So, she just read the books late at night in her room, and she always returned them the next day, before they could be missed.

Despite this, Mai knew the odds of keeping something hidden from Naru in his own building were slim to none, but she was hoping that she would find her answers before he found her out. Sadly, she hadn't found much at all. She had figured out a few important things, but nothing on the scope of what she was hoping for. Although, she now knew that her powers and her instinct weren't one and the same.

In truth, her instinct in itself wasn't that special. All animals have instincts, and well, no matter how much they try to separate themselves, humans _are_ essentially animals and as such have instincts as well. Naru, Bou-san, Yasuhara, John, Masako- they all have their own instincts. Yet, normally, a person could overpower that instinct, and rationalize it away. This wasn't the case with her. Hers seem to be more powerful, and more in-control than normal instincts were. Mai gritted her teeth at this, frustrated with it all.

Why couldn't she just be normal, for once in her life? Why couldn't she just have one thing, _one thing_, just to herself? She blinked back tears, and shook her head to chase the thoughts away. Mai gave an inward dry laugh at the thought. She was so far from normal, it was a wonder she even existed. She couldn't have normal parents, a normal life, or even a normal love life. No, she had to be a god-darned orphan with wildly psychotic psychic powers _and_ be in love with one of most unattainable men on the planet.

_Of course_, her supposedly 'normal' human instinct would go haywire as well. It had probably taken control of her psychic powers when she was little, and used them for its own uses. Mai may be able to use it at times, but she was just loaning it from its real owner- her instinct.

That was why her powers had always been so strange. They had always been a little wild, what with astral projecting her at the strangest times, and giving her visions even when she didn't want them. Mai had always assumed that they just had a mind of their own, but she would have never guessed that the term was more literal than it was figurative.

She gritted her teeth, trying to force herself to stop thinking about it. Thinking about all of this would get her nowhere fast, it was just a one way ticket to insanity. She had to stop. Mai tilted her head back to rest on the chair, and tried to relax a little, but all she could think about was what she had figured out after hours of research.

Psychic energy was in itself old. Some theories even suggested that the original humans had had some degree of psychic powers, but had lost them over time to the ravages of rationality and free thought. The area of the brain that had these powers was unused by most people, but there were certain people who could use that part. People like her, and the team.

Yet, unlike the team, her abnormally strong instinct had grabbed the reins of control from her, and was using her psychic powers for its own ends. It was probably so intertwined with her psychic powers now that they were the same entity. They would probably never be separated. In fact, her instinct was probably the reason she even had psychic powers. That part of her would have probably have stayed dormant for her entire life if her instinct hadn't suddenly decided that she needed to use them. And why? To get the attention of the very powerful psychic Naru, of course.

It was as driven as it was single minded, which left Mai to wonder why she hadn't noticed her instinct before. The only conclusion she could gather from her research was that its connection with her psychic powers was so strong that it had gained in strength alongside her psychic powers. Her instinct hadn't started out so powerful, but as she trained her powers, she had inadvertently bolstered her instinct as well.

This was just to much irony for her to bear. Mai had struggled to develop her psychic powers just so she could stop relying on others for their help during the cases, and the only thing she got out of it was a psycho spiritual instinct that made her completely dependent on Naru. It was completely misusing its growing power, and it was pushing her to her absolute limits. And her psycho instinct was now using this power to take control over her emotions.

_Her emotions!_ That was just not fair at all. An instinct normally had the power to made someone scared, or even angry, but hers seemed to be taking that control a little too far. It wanted Naru, simply for the fact that he was powerful, and it was using her own emotions to make her happy with the idea of being with him. Mai had been living in a world of confusion after she had inferred this from her studies, and was now doubting everything around her. Did she even like her friends, or was her affection for them simply engineered as well? What about her-

Mai forced herself to stop right there, unwilling to think further on the subject. She had been plenty upset about this after she had figured it out, and she wasn't going to let herself fall back into that same depression. Avoidance seemed to be the best way to keep her hold on her sanity, and she was fully willing to exploit that option. Her new motto was deny, deny, deny and hope it gets better. Even with all the time she had spent trying to research her powers, there had never been a case like hers, and as such, she couldn't find a way to stop them.

Just her luck, huh? And now there was a new twist in her powers, ones that had her experiencing the death of a rabbit, of all things. Mai heaved another great sigh, and leaned forward to prop her head up on her hands. A rabbit was such a small thing too, and she doubted that it even had enough spirit for her psychic powers to respond to. Yet, nonetheless, they had, and she was left here wondering why. Most psychic who had visions only had visions about human deaths, but her powers seemed to be expanding their scope.

So now animal deaths were counted too? Were her powers so strong that they could now recall animal deaths with the same clarity as humans? Just great. Wonderful, now she couldn't even enjoy some nice meat every now and then. Maybe if she just kept to humanely killed animals, her powers would take pity on her and leave her alone. It was worth a try at the very least.

Mai still had some questions about the whole ordeal, but she doubted that she would have them answered anytime soon. There probably wasn't a psychic on earth that could tell her why her powers were growing in that direction, and the only one that could possibly shed some light on the situation was the one person she couldn't tell.

And really, she was so _tired_ of it all. The others had even started to notice. Mai still refused to tell them anything, but this just seemed to be getting them even more worried. She had told them all that she was just a little exhausted from all the work she'd been putting in, but this just seemed to get them even more worried. Bou-san had started pestering Naru to give her more days off, and even Ayako had been saying that Mai needed a break.

Mai rubbed her eyes as she visibly sagged down the chair. She hadn't even had a single good nights sleep since she had passed out after the dojo. She kept having that same dream, and the worst thing was that she couldn't even remember it!

Just the trees, and the laughing and that she was so _happy__._ Yet, rather than waking up fully rested from these wonderful dreams, she just woke up even more tired. Really, it was almost as if she was _expending_ energy when she was dreaming. Mai gave a snort at this. Right, her spirit was astral walking to some foreign place, staying there the entire night and then coming back just when she woke up. Absolutely preposterous.

Right?

A loud clicking sound coming towards her jolted her out of her seat, and she turned to see Ayako coming right at her. Judging from the hard stare she was directing at Mai, she was upset. Bad things happen when Ayako is upset. Mai instantly froze up as she came closer.

'Just what is going on with you?" Ayako asked, her mouth set in a straight line. Mai opened her mouth to reply, but Ayako cut her off before she could repeat the same excuses that she had given before.

'You know what? I don't want to hear your excuses. You need to relax. And as a doctor, I am ordering you to go on vacation.' She stated matter-of-factly, crossing her arms across her chest.

'But the office! I can't just go on vacation now, I need-"

'No. You need to calm down. You need to start having some fun.' Ayako took a deep breath as she looked at her. Mai wondered what she was seeing. She doubted that she looked really good right now, with her dress completely dirty, her makeup running down her face, and the bags under her eyes fully exposed. Most likely, she looked like a complete mess.

Oh, this wasn't helping her case at all.

'I was planning on giving you this for your birthday, but I think that now may be a better time.' Ayako said this softly, as if she was trying to soothe her. She held out an envelope and waited for Mai to take it. Mai stared confused at it. She had expected Ayako to start ranting and raving, not for her to start giving presents. Mai slowly took the envelope and opened it, and gave a gasp as she realized what it contained.

'A ticket to Hawaii! Ayako, I can't possibly accept this!' She cried. This was far too much. Ayako had been hinting a little about going away somewhere, but Mai hadn't expected anything like this! And of course she couldn't possibly take it. If there was one thing Mai prided herself on, it was her independence, and she wouldn't sacrifice it just to get some rest and relaxation.

Yet, at the same time, she underestimated Ayako's own drive.

'You can, and you will. Don't worry, the entire team is coming too. I even gave one to that narcissist. He said he wasn't going to come, but I have a feeling that he'll change his mind when he finds out you're coming too." Ayako said the last few words pointedly, as if Mai understood what she meant. Uh oh, Ayako was acting like it was already decided. And it probably was in her mind. But what on earth did Naru have to do with it?

Mai just scrunched her nose up in confusion. What should her coming have to do with anything Naru decided? The man was as stubborn as a mule, and two times as likely to kick. She was about to say so before Ayako grabbed her hand. Dragging her towards the dance floor, Ayako continued talking.

'Here. You can thank me with a dance. And you'd better start smiling!'

Mai didn't even have time to respond before they were swallowed up by the crowd. Ayako wasn't going to let this go without a fight, and right now, Mai was all outta fight. She would just have to accept this before Ayako thought of an even wilder plan to get her to relax. And Mai really didn't want to wake up one day strapped to a hospital bed with Ayako standing over her, holding a syringe full of sedatives. Mai would still have to make this gift up to her of course, probably with a whole lot of thanking.

Thinking that she might as well start now, Mai tried to talk to her, but the sound of the music was just too loud. She resorted to yelling a thank you into Ayako's ear, one that could barely be heard above the loud thumping of the speakers. Yet Ayako seemed to catch it, and she responded by spinning her around in a circle, giving a relieved smile as Mai laughed in exhilaration.

Ayako was right, Mai was getting a little stressed. That whole 'relaxing' session in the reception hall had her feeling worse than she had before, especially with how disappointed she was with her spiritual instinct. She smiled as she watched the others dance beneath the colorful lights. John was surprisingly good at doing the robot. And Naru was, of course, standing by the sidelines, his eyes still watching her. Great, now he was suspicious.

But you know what? Mai deserved a vacation. Between random bursts of spiritual power and freaky rabbit death flash backs, she had barely even had enough time to enjoy life before her spiritual instinct sent yet another compulsion driving her towards Naru. As she watched Bou-san try and teach Masako how to do the Macarena, Mai realized that a trip to Hawaii with the team might be just what the doctor ordered. Well, what Ayako had ordered.

After all, what could go wrong in Hawaii?

**A/N: Hello All! I don't own Ghost Hunt. **

**I'm back! Finished my exams, and darned proud of it. Thanks to those who wished me luck! Now, I'm actually going somewhere with this fic. I may have taken a break from this, but trust me, it was a very productive break. Also, what I wrote before about the chapters being smaller is turning out to be a complete lie. The next couple of chapters are going to be big.  
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**I'm almost done writing the next chapter! It's set in *Hawaii*, and of course Mai gets into her fair share of trouble. Also, we finally get a hint of that cross-over with Detective Conan! Hope you guys like it.  
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**I was originally going to upload a mini-chapter to this story, but then I realized that if I uploaded every single one of my ideas, you guys would be far too confused. Plus, I have a couple of AU situations that have nothing to do with this fic. A lot of the other uploads on that other fic, 'Psyche', will have traces of this story in them. Reading it would give you guys a much better sense of where I'm going. Plus, some events that I couldn't fit into this fic are going to be uploaded onto that one, kinda like behind the scenes.  
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** I had an absolutely wonderful time reading your reviews, and they actually kept me writing! Thanks for actually reading this long A/N and I hope you stick with me!  
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**Thank you all very much for reading!  
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